Catch a Falling Star
by SmackLeQuack
Summary: Lily's heart has broken into a thousand pieces, and James is trying to help. Oneshot, JL


She ran upstairs to her Head Girl dormitory in tears, make-up running down her porcelain looking cheeks. How Amos Diggory could break her heart in such a way she did not know. All she knew was that it killed her the minute those words had come out of his mouth. On her way up the flight of stairs, she heard a familiar voice. It was none other than James Potter.

"Hey Lils, what's wrong?" He said, standing at the bottom of the staircase. Lily turned around, her face red with anger and fury.

"Do NOT call me Lils, ever!" She yelled at him while trying to fight back her tears. Unfortunately, her efforts were not strong enough. The tears began to flow out of her eyes. Realizing what had just happened, Lily turned and ran the rest of the way to her room, shutting the door behind her.

Once inside, she threw her book bag down to the ground harshly and then lay down on her bed, crying herself to sleep.

Meanwhile, James walked back out to their Heads' Common Room and plopped himself down on the couch. Staring into empty space, he sighed. Never in the seven years had he known Lily had he seen her this upset, not even towards him. He was really worried about her. After sitting for a while, he got up and walked out of the room towards the Gryffindor Common Room. He figured Lily would be out of classes for a few days and would therefore need the notes and homework she'd miss. James had considered bringing her all the work himself, but he figured he would probably be the last person she wouldwant to see. Knowing that, he asked Sirius' cousin Andromeda and Lily's other two best friends Molly and Alice to collect the homework and notes for the melancholy girl. Being such good friends, the girls agreed to help willingly. James gave the girls the password to the Heads' room, quickly thanked the three and then gathered up the Gryffindor quidditch team seeing as it was time for practice.

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Molly, Alice, and Andromeda came by everyday at the same time for a week to give Lily the work they had received each day. The girls stayed for exactly an hour and a half on weekdays and as long as they could on the weekend.

It amazed James as to how a bunch of girls could cheer up a friend so fast. Lily had soon returned to class, excelling at everything as always as though nothing had happened.

However, that was not the case. Amos Diggory had still broken her heart and her best friends had saved her from falling behind in class. For that, she had to thank them.

"Hey guys." Lily said as she met up with her three best friends after class one Friday afternoon.

"Hey." The trio responded.

"I want to throw you guys a party for helping me so much. Does tonight sound good?" Lily asked hopefully.

The three all agreed that that night would be good. After all, it was a Friday.

A few hours later, Alice, Andromeda, and Molly all arrived the Heads' suite and said the password, opening the portrait.

"Hey guys. The party's up in my room." Lily said while gesturing them in. The three walked in and headed towards Lily's room. Lily was about to close the portrait when James walked in. He saw the pretty red-headed girl and smiled.

"Hey, Lils. Glad to see you're doing better." James said politely. Lily scowled.

"I thought I told you not to call me that." Lily said rudely. James sighed and walked away towards his room. Lily walked over to the group of girls at the bottom of her staircase and the four walked up together. Lily opened the door and let thebunch walk into the decorated room. Normally, her room was quite glamorous and lavished, looking elegant and sophisticated. Her bed normally was a big, high, round article that was the centerpiece of the room. Its covers usually were a stylish red silk with down comforting underneath that was decorated with metallic gold pillows, Gryffindor colors of course. This piece was now a bed on the ground fit for all four of them to sleep on with soft, oversized purple and pink pillows atop a squishy white comforter. There was mosquito netting over it to give it more of a princess feel. The normally white, graceful carpet was now hidden under a shag rug. The walls and been turned into a soft pink instead of a deep red. The rest of the room had been transformed to fit this chic, teenage style. The girls then took seats in multi-colored been bags that were put in a corner with a lava lamp in the center on a small, white coffee table.

The four talked about everything from boys to makeovers late into the night. Soon, they all grew tired and got ready for bed. As they were doing so, Andromeda spoke.

"Why were you so rude to James a few hours ago?" She asked.

"Yeah, all he did was say that he was happy to see you felling better." Molly added.

"Well, Lils was my pet name with Amos. Other than that, I don't know. He's just a jerksometimes I guess." Lily replied, causing each of the girls to sigh. Alice was the first to speak.

"Do you even know what he was doing for you while you were grieving your loss?" Alice asked. Lily laughed.

"Probably nothing."

The other girls sighed once again and shook their heads.

"No, he was the one that told us you would need your work and that you'd be out for a while. We wouldn't have known to do such a thing. I bet he would've even brought you all the work himself if you didn't hate him so much." Andromeda said sternly. Lily stood there in disbelief. She soon shook herself out of her trance and walked towards the door.

"I…I have to go do something. It won't take long. Just…just stay here." Lily said as she walked out of her room and down to the common room. Toher surprise, James wasn't there. She sighed as she took a seat in an armchair, trying to think about what had happened up in her room. She couldn't believe James would do something that sweet, especially after how horribly she had treated him. Lily then started to cry. She couldn't stand thinking about that way sheacknowledged him.

Wiping away her tears, she got up and walked over to James' room to see his door open. She looked in the dark room, seeing him laying on his bed, hands under his head, looking up at the ceiling. Lily rested her body against one side of the doorway and knocked on the door. James' head shot up to see who it was. Seeing that it was Lily, he stared at her for a while until she spoke.

"Mind if I come in?" the saddened girl asked. James removed one of his hands and patted her a spot next to him on the bed. She walked over and jumped up, sitting herself up against the headboard.

"What's troubling you?" James asked, going back to staring at the ceiling. Lily waited a while before she spoke.

"James, do you know why I was upset for so long?"

"No, I don't."

"Then how did you know that I'd need my work?"

James laughed.

"I see your friends have told you of my plan."

"Yes, they did. Now answer the question, please." She said calmly. James sighed.

"Well, the look on your face wasn't the normal one of a crying girl. Yours was more pained and depressed."

"So that's why you went to my friends for help."

"I suppose you could say that,"

"Why didn't you just bring me the work yourself.." Lily asked seriously. James laughed again.

"Well, you pretty much hate my guts, so I figured that I'd be the last person you'd want to see."

"That's not true." Lily defended. James sat up and turned his head to face her.

"Lily, look me in the eyes and tell me the same thing you just said."

Lily turned to him and looked him straight in the eye. She attempted to say the same statement many times, but soon she gave up. She couldn't do it. Realizing that it wasn't possible for her, she hung her head. James just stared into open space until her heard sniffling. It was Lily crying. James inched himself closer and pulled the weeping girl into his arms, gently rubbing her back.

"I'm sorry James. I couldn't do it, but it's not because I don't like you. It's honestly not." The girl said, burying her head into his chest.

"Shh…it's okay." He said, now smoothing her hair.

It took a few minutes to calm Lily down. By then, she was ready to talk.

"James?"

"Yes, Lily?"

"I'm sorry I couldn't look you in the eye and say it." Lily said to James, who was now looking away.

"It's fine." He said, obviously hurt. Lily put her hands to his head and turned it so his warmhazel eyes met her intense emerald ones.

"It's not that I couldn't because I don't like you, because I really do. It's just that when I looked into your eyes, I saw Amos Diggory."

By now, James looked confused. He had no idea why she had brought up Amos' name. Seeing his confusion, Lily laughed.

"My distress was caused by Amos, who broke up with me. To remember everything we had and everything about him and then have to throw it away like that hurt. But I will never forget his eyes. You see, your eyes are exactly like his. When I looked into them, I saw what I saw in his eyes." Lily paused. "Love." She then lay her head on his chest and started to cry again.

"Lily, please don't cry. It breaks my heart to see such a lovely creature so miserable." He said, leaning her head up so her eyes met his once more. A tear began to roll down Lily's cheek.

"James, I don't want to fall in love again. I don't want the pain of it."

James wiped away the tear with his thumb and smiled at her.

"Don't worry, I'll catch you."


End file.
